A Law Blog Tuesday-Morning Book-Publishing Roundup

Senator Ted Kennedy has agreed to sell his memoirs for an advance of more than $8 million. Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, bought world rights for the autobiography. Here’s the story from the New York Times, which reports that the contract must be cleared with the Senate Ethics Committee. Said Kennedy in a statement: “I’ve been fortunate in my life to grow up in an extraordinary family and to have a front-row seat at many key events in our nation’s history.”

We wonder how much space Kennedy will devote to his halcyon days at UVA Law, from which he graduated in 1959. And maybe he’ll even have a paragraph on the William Minor Lile Moot Court Competition, which he apparently won. Or perhaps he’ll talk about his lawyer wife Victoria Reggie, who’s father Edmund Reggie was a well-known judge in Lousiana.

Not surprisingly, Bob Barnett (pictured) was the lawyer who negotiated the deal for Kennedy. Barnett, a longtime partner at Williams & Connolly in D.C. has an unconventional and enviable law practice. He pretty much owns the business of brokering big book deals for Beltway Insiders, having also handled the auctions for Alan Greenspan, both Clintons, George Tenet, Barack Obama and Ari Fleischer. He also represents big time TV news anchors, having negotiated contracts for Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson and Sanjay Gupta.

In other book news, the Legal Times’s Tony Mauro reports that Justice Scalia has teamed up with legal-writing guru Bryan Garner to co-author a book on the art of persuading judges, both orally and in written briefs. Scalia gave a statement on the book through the Supremes press office: “The object of the book is to make available, in a compact and (we hope) readable format, what we think to be the best advice on how to argue a case. It covers both brief-writing and oral argument. And it includes both advice from modern sources and advice from ancient sources adapted to modern American circumstances. We hope it will be helpful to the bar; if so, it will benefit the bench as well.”

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The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

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